No one will ever know for sure whether factors emerging from what is now a search for bodies were contributory factors in the deaths of the four Glaswegian pike fisermen who died in the deep waters of Loch Awe in the early hours of Saturday morning (21st March).

The alarn was raised by a fifth member of their party at around 4.00am and two of the men were brought from the water shortly after 6.00am, unconscious and barely alive. Both of them – 47 year-old William Carty and 30 year-old Craig Currie – were pronounced dead at the scene. The other two, 42 year-old Steven Carty, William’s brother and 36 year-old Thomas Douglas, now presumed dead, are the subject of a contiuing search by police divers with assistance from Interational Rescue from Bo’ness near Falkirk.

Conditions at the time were dreadfiul. There was fog so thick that visibility was down to a few metres in what was described as a white-out.

The central problem was that the Oban-based team from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue had no boat to use for the rescue and, without a boat, they had no buoyancy jackets that might have enabled them to commandeer a boat from elsewhere on Loch Aweside.

There are two major problems  associated this lack of . The first was that Strathclyde Fire and Rescue withdrew the fast inshore rescue RIB (rigid inflatable boat) from the Oban team last year and located it at Renfrew instead. This was done estensibly bec ause the Oban team were not trained in its use.

The fact that the obvious response to this was not made – train them – is the key to the underlying issue. The Strathclyde force is allegedly under-funded for the area of its responsibilities and the Clyde area, served from Renfrew, has had over two hundred water-based incidents in the past year where Argyll has had two. The RIB was relocated for logistical reasons.

The irony is that the Oban team – left helpless on the shores of Loch Awe with no boat, hearing the cries of dying men and unable to do aything to help them – had to call for the boat they had last year to be brought to the scene from Renfrew. This is a journey of over an hour and a half.

The second problem is that there is no authority responsible for freahwater rescue in Argyll. The Marine and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is focused on coastal rescue, with the RNLI. Strathclyde Police have no statutory obligation to assist with water rescues but always do what they can to support other rescue services.

There are now noises being made about looking at freshwater rescue provision in the Oban area. This is no nore than an unthinking knee-jerk reaction to the oresent systemic failures.Loch Lomond, in the National Park, has its own rescue boat.  But what about Loch Eck in Cowal – another major freshwater loch with each roadside access inviting accidents? What about Loch Avich, between Loch Awe and Kilmelford? The lack of a rescue boat does not affect the Oban area alone.

This has turned out to be yet another area where the demands of Argyll’s unique topography have not been addressed.

Councillor for Oban South and The Isles, Roddy McCuish, has gone on the record as being determined to get the RIB back to Oban and to ask searchiing questions about what happened this past weekend.

The outstanding issue is structural. Who is to be formally responble for the safety of Argyll’s inland lochs and how will this be equipped?

The search operation has been stood down for tonight but will extend to the islands in the north end of the loch when it resumes tomorrow morning (Tuesday 24th March).

The photograph above shows an RNLI RIB of the sort removed from the Oban branch of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue. It is by copyright holder, Dave Taskis and is reproduced here under the GNU Free Documentation licence.

Related Posts

• Scottish Government orders review of rescue procedures after Loch Awe tragedy (0)
• McGrigor speaks at Holyrood on Water Rescue Review (0)
• Loch Awe tragedy produces commonsense conclusions (0)
• RNLI Sea Safety Roadshow at Loch Awe & Tobermory (0)
• Message from Jodie Carty on freshwater loch rescue boat for Loch Awe (0)

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